


You Sing With A Voice Like I Know You

by barricadebutts



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternative Universe-Indie Band, Emori and Murphy share a lot of loaded looks, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 08:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20206498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadebutts/pseuds/barricadebutts
Summary: Clarke and Bellamy find each other by chance and fall in love through the making of music and Murphy and Emori’s shared, knowing glances





	You Sing With A Voice Like I Know You

**Author's Note:**

> So this things been a work in progress technically for about a year now. I also can’t believe it’s the first thing I’ve finished since August of 2017. Season 6 really got me back into the Bellarke mood, and the last few episodes made me want to finish this thing. I’ve got a bit to say about this baby, so bear with me here for a moment.
> 
> This originally started as a fic that was inspired by the duo ‘Oh Wonder’ and their dynamic that I got to experience in July 2018 at their concert. One of the comments that’s mentioned towards the end that’s the caption to a picture, is a comment I made to a friend while watching Oh Wonder interact on stage.
> 
> A lot of the bulk and background of this story then came from the background of another duo named Aquilo. They lived in the same small town in England and never knew each other until one found the other on Soundcloud. Their song ‘Who Are You’ reminded me at some point last November of Bellamy and Clarke, and with the idea of a band au already in my mind, this morphed to incorporate that song, which is now the basis of the whole fic.
> 
> I put together a tiny little playlist of all the songs mentioned in this fic, seeing as they’re real songs, and you can find that here [[x]](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQjNF-hHQvocGXOv5C6Y6ls7tsFQva_J_)  
The title song, ‘Who Are You’ is included in both a live version and a studio version, the live being in which I based how Bellamy sings it here.
> 
> Also, the third picture in this set is about how the singers of Oh Wonder acted with each other on stage the entire time I saw them, which is how Bellamy and Clarke act here, so judge that for yourselves.  
[[x]](https://www.instagram.com/p/BaGP7Iwnzdc/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet)
> 
> One final note: I did not have a beta for this fic, so any and all mistakes are my own

Clarke’s always lived in a small town, a town of about 2,000. It’s old and governed by a lot of the elders in the community, has been for as far back as Clarke has ever been able to research, which is probably why the town never fully experiences a boom. In a town this small, everyone’s at least aware of everyone’s business, even if they aren’t totally immersed in it. The population serves as a double-edged sword because the closeness of everybody always makes for interesting gossip while also proving that one cannot get away with anything.

She grows up knowing almost everyone on her street and at least being aware of people across town. Her mother, a local doctor that practices in their ‘downtown’ area knows nearly everyone—not surprising. This fact also proves detrimental to Clarke’s social antics through the years.

_\---September 2016---_

One afternoon Raven sends her a tweet with numerous exclamation points about this guy’s music on Soundcloud that she needs to listen to. Raven doesn’t give her anything but a username and the profile doesn’t give her any hints as to his real name other than a play on words of some historical figure. When she listens to the acoustic guitar strumming out a fairly mellow and heartbreaking song, she’s left speechless.

It's melancholic with some self-deprecating lyrics. The music and the lyrics fight to be at the center of Clarke’s attention, and because of this, she plays the song several times in a row. It’s fairly simple and she hears some piano layered into it as well, but she can tell the main focus is meant to be the guitar.

After she’s listened to the song another two or three times, Clarke goes through the rest of his songs he’s got posted (a few covers and a few more originals with slightly happier themes) and decides that she needs to message this guy. Clarke’s a self-proclaimed singer/songwriter herself, and she’ll be damned if she doesn’t at least talk to him about his music. His overall style doesn’t sound too different from her own, and an exchange of knowledge is never a bad thing. Who knows, maybe if their exchange of ideas went well, they could even record a few songs together somehow. Clarke tries not to get her hopes too high though.

The response she gets about an hour later is one she could only attribute to the karmic forces of the northwest. The guy writes back asking if she’s the Clarke Griffin from down the street because he’s the Bellamy Blake from the end of her street. Clarke figures she _must_ have done something in a past life to warrant such forces pulling shit like this.

She’s heard the name Bellamy Blake here and there, but never met him. She knows he’s got a sister a year or two younger than herself, so it’s not like Clarke would even know him through her. Bellamy’s about three or four years older than Clarke, and she’s seen him around town with his friends and sister, but she had no idea that he was a musician, let alone a good one.

The name Bellamy Blake also brings forth strong warnings from her mother to stay away from him and his friends. She calls them troublemakers, always has, and if the hollers and laughter from down the street throughout her childhood and adolescence are anything to go by, her mother’s right.

Clarke also knows what she’s heard from others. That he’s got a revolving door of both girls and guys at any one time, and that he’s not afraid of what the older members of their small community think. The only reason that she even buys into the gossip is because Bellamy’s not an unattractive man with his dark curly hair and darker than most, freckled skin (which is a source of gossip as well). He could easily get anyone he wished to.

Once she gets over the initial shock that she’s talking to _Bellamy Blake, _and that he’s a musician of all things, as well as the sheer improbability that she’s found this amazing musician that happens to be from the same small town as her, she emails him back and asks if he wants to get together and maybe record a few things and play around with some sounds. He lives down the street, Clarke figures she can merge the exchange of ideas with the co-recording of music into one step.

Clarke doesn’t expect Bellamy to write back so quickly, but he does, so they make a plan for the weekend since they’ve both got jobs that realistically take top priority.

.

.

.

.

A lot of the assumptions that Clarke had had about Bellamy due to her mother and the surrounding town prove to be false within the first thirty minutes of meeting him. They meet down at the small coffee shop where Clarke works normally and engage in Clarke’s theorized ‘exchange of ideas’ for way longer than she had ever planned.

Bellamy talks fondly of his sister and relatively well of his mother who he says has made questionable life decisions, and seems to continue to pretty frequently. This in turn causes Clarke to vent about how her mother is pushing her to go on for a medical degree she’s only halfway passionate about. She likes the idea of being a doctor, of helping to cure people of their ailments, but she’s much more passionate about art and music.

The entire time she talks, Bellamy watches raptly, and Clarke thinks that she could get lost in his eyes. Distantly, she thinks she wouldn’t mind being one of the gossiped girls and boys that Bellamy lets close to him.

When they finally go back to her house to play around with some recording equipment, Clarke finds that they mesh really well together, their voices and their recording tastes. They play around with some covers that they both know, and eventually Clarke broaches the desire to maybe record that one song of his that she still listens to way too much.

She figures that she really likes the hint of color that rises on his face at the compliment and praise.

\---_October 2016---_

After the first hangout/recording session, Bellamy and Clarke end up getting together more and more. They play around with lyrics that they each write on their own as well as talk about music throughout time that has shaped their current musical style.

Apart from technical talk though, they talk about their home lives and their social circles. They’ve orbited around each other for nearly their entire lives with minimal contact, and Clarke just thinks that’s so _wild_. His girlfriend of a few months now (Echo) is friends with one of her own friends (Emori), whose boyfriend is one of Bellamy’s rumored exes as well (John Murphy). At certain points, Clarke feels like she needs a board with string to keep all the interweaving relationships clear.

Learning that Bellamy has a girlfriend sinks something within Clarke, even though she knows she shouldn’t get involved with someone she really wants to work professionally with. Clarke doesn’t even know how to compete with someone like Echo anyway; Echo is tall and tan with dark hair and high cheekbones whereas Clarke is quite a bit shorter with short blonde hair, pale skin, and a slightly rounder face.

Other than a cursory comparison though when she meets Echo for the first time, Clarke tries not to compare herself to the other girl because that’s never good for self-esteem. She does keep the comparisons in the back of her mind though for whenever she feels a flare-up of something for Bellamy.

Aside from his personal relationships, Clarkes also learns that Bellamy is way into mythology and history and as such, is way into the idea of fate. The knowledge that he thinks this, makes small butterflies flutter in her stomach with the implication of their new situation.

One afternoon when they’re talking about anything and everything in Clarke’s basement, Clarke finds out Bellamy works at the factory at the edge of town. When Clarke tells him that she’s working at the coffee shop that they hang out in every so often, he reveals that he’s probably never met her there in passing because he doesn’t drink much coffee. However, Clark has started to notice him coming into the shop when she’s working to work on his own things, or to talk to her while she’s not busy. She tries not to read too much into that small type of action since he’s got a girlfriend after all.

Despite knowing that Bellamy does in fact have a girlfriend, the more time she spends with Bellamy, the more Clarke finds that she’s telling herself not to have feelings. This could shape up to be a disaster if she’s not careful. She’s potentially found this great music partner and her heart wants to go and ruin it? She decides to bury it deep and attempt to forget about it while they focus on this collaboration effort.

This collaboration effort meanwhile, seems to be going better each time that the two of them meet with the mindset of music.

Bellamy’s the one that pitches the idea that maybe they should record something and post it online for the world to judge their efforts. Clarke must have this look on her face because Bellamy schools his ominous expression and asks her if she even wants to put their work out there for everyone to see.

“I do,” she says, nodding in part as if to assure herself. “What if people don’t like what we’ve created though and we’ve just been wasting time in my basement two days a week?”

Bellamy gets this soft look in his eyes and reaches across the table they’re sitting at in the coffee shop where Clarke’s currently on break. He takes her hand that’s not currently wrapped around her coffee cup and squeezes reassuringly. Clarke feels butterflies in her stomach. Honestly, do these butterflies ever take a damn break?

“I wouldn’t exactly call making a really great new friend a waste of time. We’ve both still got our jobs, so it’s not like we’ve sacrificed a whole lot to try this thing.” Clarke levels Bellamy with a fond glare and rolls her eyes at him.

“Alright let’s do this,” Clarke concedes and Bellamy rewards her with an over-exaggerated fist pump into the air. She can’t help but bark out a laugh at his ridiculousness.

.

.

.

.

Their song goes live on a joint Soundcloud account they’ve decided to make for the purpose of releasing these songs.

Realistically, all they do to promote this thing they’ve created in Clarke’s basement is to post it on both their social media accounts and then leave it alone for the most part. And then a week later Clarke gets a text from Bellamy.

[Bell _3:05 pm_]: Have you looked at the song views lately?

[Bell _3:06 pm_]: The one we posted together

He doesn’t give her any other context into what’s going on, and Clarke wants to throttle him over text because why can’t he just tell her why she should check? She’s at work and can’t exactly just whip out her phone to log onto their account. She thinks that maybe he’s just curious as to the status of it and is asking her if she’s seen it lately because he’s busy and can’t check.

Once she’s released for break, Clarke pulls up the webpage on her phone and has to pull the phone closer to her face, because there’s no way that she’s seeing that stream count correctly. There are nearly five digits on the hit counter, and multiple profile logos interspersed throughout the stream with comments like, “Oh my god?! This is soo good.” and “Wow this is amazing! You guys should make more songs together, and soon!” And the best part is that she doesn’t know any of these people who have left these comments.

Clarke exits out of the app and quickly sends Bellamy a text back.

[Clarke _4:15 pm_]: Oh my god? Have you seen them? I assume you have and that’s why you texted.

[Clarke _4:15 pm_]: I guess we’ve got to make more, right?

And then one more to be safe.

[Clarke _4:17 pm_]: Is this the part where I say you were right?

Clarke feels no shame in triple texting Bellamy because this is _cool_. They’ve gotten reception and actual feedback from people they don’t know.

Bellamy doesn’t wait too long to text back, so Clarke figures he’s probably on a break at work as well.

[Bell _4:20 pm_]: This weekend? I’ve got some ideas if you want to hear them

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.

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The atmosphere that weekend when Bellamy walks into Clarke’s basement is one of careful optimism. They still aren’t completely sure how their song has blown up so quickly with little promotion on their part, but they agree that they need to keep their expectations in check.

The song meanwhile, continues to grow throughout the process of recording more songs. It’s a surreal experience to say the least, but Clarke doesn’t know where this goes from here. If this trend keeps up do they attempt to make this a permanent thing between the two of them and pursue this type of career? Do they chalk it up to a viral incident that’ll never happen again? They’ll get their time in the “spotlight” only to remain strictly a Soundcloud hit?

She voices her concerns to Bellamy one weekend when they’re sitting on her couch with her laptop mixing a song. Bellamy’s got his guitar on his lap and is strumming a few chords over and over as if he’s stuck on a sound he can’t get out of his head.

“I think we watch where it goes and keep our avenues open. You never know, right?” He throws her a look and smiles. “Can you imagine if your mom heard from you that you were ditching med school to pursue music full time?”

Clarke smiles and goes back to her computer screen. She doesn’t mention that she’s already been half-thinking of ditching med school anyway. The more she toys with the idea of not going, the more she finds that she likes the idea. The idea of not spending tens of thousands of dollars to do something she’s only mildly passionate about it idiotic, but of course no one has heard this line of thinking yet but her own subconscious.

They get to work.

\---_December 2016_\---

Clarke and Bellamy end up putting out the equivalent of an EP onto Soundcloud around mid-November and watch the view counts continue to rise throughout the month and into December. They’ve even watched their social media follower counts begin to rise slowly.

Bellamy floated the idea mid-November that maybe they should ask some friends who play instruments to help them with some drums and a bass guitar. The two of them have the keyboard and guitar covered, but they are only two people after all.

Raven agreed pretty quickly that she’d help out on the drums, and Clarke mentions that Emori knows how to play the bass. When they showed her their music they had recorded, she was really into it, so it doesn’t take much convincing to get her onboard. Recruitment results in a little band that’ll help them in the recording sphere and add a bit of dimension to their basement created music.

But then Bellamy gets an email near Christmas from an agent of a smaller subsidiary of Universal records asking if the two of them would be interested in sitting down for a meeting to talk about a record deal. When Bellamy shows up on Clarke’s doorstep on Christmas Eve with the news, she stands there with an open mouth for several seconds before she throws her arms around Bellamy’s shoulders and screams in victory.

Clarke’s mother comes to the door at the sound and probably to also complain about Clarke letting all the cold into the house. She pauses when she sees the two and Clarke reluctantly withdraws from Bellamy’s warm frame and turns to see her mother with a curious look on her face.

“We maybe just got offered a record deal?” She tells her mom as gently as she can, because she knows her mother will extrapolate from this statement what this means for her own med school future. Abby will be skeptical of her not going to on to follow in her footsteps. As their stream counts have continued to rise, Clarke has monitored how her mother’s demeanor has changed from supportive to apprehensive.

Her mother looks like a fish at the moment, her mouth opening and closing several times before she chokes out a “That’s great! Would you like to come inside, Bellamy? We’re getting ready to have some dessert.”

Clarke reaches a hand that’s still holding on to Bellamy’s sleeve and tugs discreetly. It’s a movement that says _look at how she’s trying not to freak out right now_, but Clarke can’t see what she knows is probably a poorly concealed smile.

“I would love to, but I was just out picking up some milk for my mom and sister. I only found out on my way home so I figured I’d tell Clarke in person.” He lifts up the shopping bag with milk in it that’s in the hand that Clarke’s not holding onto. She hadn’t even noticed it; she had thought he had come all the way over from his house to tell her. Her heart sinks a little. “Thank you for the offer though, Ms. Griffin.”

Clarke lets go of his arm and turns to say goodbye to him. She sees her mom sneak away back into the house where it’s undoubtedly warmer. “You have to forward me that email, and we have to talk about it. Tomorrow if you can, the day after if need be.” The smile hasn’t left her face, and she thinks it may be permanently stuck like that.

Bellamy nods and steps down off her porch tipping his head back in her direction. “I’ll let you know. Avenues open, Clarke!” She watches him walk down the sidewalk and disappear behind her neighbor’s trees.

\---_February 2017---_

They’re signed to a record deal. An _actual _record deal that will give them the opportunity to release music and get paid for it. An opportunity to take their music on the road and play festivals and concerts and see people that listen to their music.

They’ve decided that they’re definitely a duo with a supporting band, and that they’ll officially be known as Midnight Madness. It’s a name that Clarke originally floated as a joke, but the more that they brainstormed, the more they kept coming back to it. Raven and Emori were also very supportive of the name, though they insisted that it ultimately wasn’t their choice anyway.

Once they pick out a name, things begin to happen quite quickly. Their manager is supportive of their EP that they’ve released, but wants them now to focus their efforts on a full length album, because that’s what will end up making them money. It’s what will allow them to take their show on the road and play live for people.

Their manager also helps them out close to home and books a few small shows for them as well. The coffee shop that Clarke works in has agreed to let them host a show during one of their open mic nights. They’ll be working for tips mostly, but their manager tells them it’s good practice since they haven’t played live together much. Bellamy and Raven act like it’s no big deal, like they’re excited for uncharted territory, whereas Clarke figures she and Emori are more on the same side of being terrified of both playing live and playing for people they’ve known their entire lives. They’ve got some work to do.

Raven and Emori are troopers learning the songs that Bellamy and Clarke have written, and everything seems to be coming together really well. They rehearse a couple times a week when they’re all off the clock, and Clarke feels like she’s in a dream still. She hasn’t overcome the idea that she’s going to wake up any minute and realize none of this ever happened. It feels especially like a dream when Bellamy looks over at her from where he’s standing with his guitar and gives her the biggest and most sincere smile she’s ever seen.

Echo sits in on their rehearsals sometimes when she’s not busy. She’s attending classes at the university in the next town over for her master’s degree in psychology, so it’s not unheard of for her to come hang out weighed down with school work. She is supportive though and offers her opinions on some of the songs, which Clarke begrudgingly accepts some days more than others. The green-eyed monster of jealousy does rear its head every so often when she watches how Echo gets to be intimate with Bellamy during downtime. She likes to think she hides it well though.

.

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On the night of their coffee shop show, people that aren’t family show up to see them perform. Shockingly there are even a few people that aren’t from their town, but from one over or even a few away. They get cheers and applause, and when their set is finished a few people find Bellamy and Clarke in the crowd to congratulate them on a great performance.

Afterwards when they all decide to go out, Bellamy buys Clarke a drink to commemorate the occasion and she tries to tell herself it means nothing because Echo’s across the room laughing with Emori and Raven.

“You almost gave me a run for my money up there, Princess,” Bellamy muses as they turn away from the bar and walk over to where their friends are sat at a table.

“_Me? _Alright. We _both _worked our asses off to get ready for that show, so don’t sell yourself short.” Bellamy gives her a look that she can’t parse in the moment, but before she can say anything about it, they reach the group. Echo slides her arms around Bellamy’s neck and giving him an enviable kiss.

Clarke has to look away and looks right into the eyes of Emori and Murphy, who she thinks were just watching her for her reaction. She most _certainly _does not read too much into that.

\---_March 2017---_

Bellamy breaks up with Echo in March and has a sheet of lyrics for a new song handed to Clarke a week later. Lyrics off the song include the likes of “And all that this ever was is words falling down/ Maybe you’ll understand when I’m not around” and “I’ll be better off without you”, which also happens to be the title of the song, coincidentally.

Clarke nearly chokes when she skims the page from her spot tucked into the corner of the couch in her basement. Here she’d been, minding her business, when Bellamy had come stomping down the stairs, lyrics in hand.

“Wow, this doesn’t make you look crazy at all. I can’t believe you’re about to immortalize your ex forever.” She tracks his movement across the room as he finally falls into the loveseat perpendicular to the couch.

Bellamy shrugs and stares off into space. “I was thinking of offsetting the lyrics with something upbeat; maybe a drum loop or something we can get Raven’s input on.”

The lyrics on the page draw Clarke’s gaze back towards them, looking for elements of the lyrics that would lend well to synthetic sounds.

“Drum loops? That’s not really our style, is it?” The extent of inorganic sound usually stops at a keyboard synth, so Clarke’s not sure if they could make it sound good. She doesn’t know a lot of the dirty details of the breakup, but the last thing she wants to do is give Echo the last word.

“No, not really like an obvious loop I guess. Just a little so that the song as a whole is faster than a breakup song would make you think. Make people second guess what the message really is. I guess maybe just like our other songs? Am I making this more confusing than it needs to be?” He groans and lets his head drop against the back of the couch, closes his eyes as if to try and sort through some thoughts.

“Upbeat… what if we added different instruments? Maybe like a sax? That could be cool.” Clarke’s thinking out loud, and clearly it must be the right decision because Bellamy’s lifts his head off the back of the couch and looks at Clarke with wide eyes.

“Do you know how much I love you, Clarke Griffin? It’s like you read my mind and can actually discern the confusing bits.”

Clarke can’t help the butterflies that erupt in her stomach, nor can she help the blush that fills her cheeks. She knows Bellamy means it in a super platonic way because he did just break up with his girlfriend and then spend a week lamenting it enough to write a whole song about it, but still.

If Bellamy thinks anything of the statement after letting it slip though, he doesn’t say anything. In an effort not to let his words inadvertently spoil the atmosphere, Clarke extricates herself from her nest of blankets and walks over to grab the small wireless keyboard they have plugged in against the wall.

Clarke can feel Bellamy’s eyes on her, no doubt wondering what she’s up to, but she ignores him for the time being. He doesn’t ask any questions himself until she drops the lyric sheet into his lap and hefts the piano up so that he can reach for it. “Play for me what you’re thinking. Surely you must have some sort of melody in your head after taking the time to write it all out.”

Without another word, Bellamy takes the keyboard and flips the switch and hits a few keys, experimenting with what it sounds like paired with the words in his head.

Watching Bellamy work like this is something that Clarke loves. A certain look comes over him when he disappears into his head, a look of concentration and awe as the melodies and lyrics coming together into a semblance of a coherent work. When Bellamy’s like this, Clarke lets herself stare because it seems that the entire outside world fades out around him. Usually it takes physical touch to rouse him before he’s decided he’s finished.

When it seems he’s got it roughly sorted, Bellamy taps out a chord progression that sounds almost a little jazzy. The inclusion of a saxophone would definitely aid in this respect for an up-tempo and faux happy song.

The words that were on the lyric sheet only half follow the tune of the keys, but Clarke follows easily enough from her perch on the arm of the couch. The lyrics themselves had sounded cool and poetic already, but the way Bellamy’s half singing, half-humming them make it all the more better.

This song has the potential to be really interesting and _good_, Clarke thinks, as long as the small town mentality doesn’t get to it first. Because that’s the only problem—if someone hears about it and tells Echo, then it might as well already be dead. Small towns can work like that.

_\---May 2017---_

Several things happen throughout the course of May 2017. Their album drops to generally positive reviews by those who review it. They had made the right decision to officially release the EP beforehand to garner some interest and attention, so that by the time their album was ready to drop, they’d have a little bit of a base behind them to boost sales.

For a generally unknown duo coming out of the Pacific Northwest with some Soundcloud hits and an EP, their album hits high up in the Billboard 200 charts. Ridiculously high, but it’s _there_. The group of them, them being Clarke, Bellamy, Emori, Raven, Murphy, and Zeke, may or may not celebrate with some champagne that the record company sends them as a congratulatory gift.

Over the course of the night as they get giddy off the bubbles and Bellamy leans further and further into her space, Clarke very pointedly sees both the fond smiles from him and the hidden smiles from the rest of the group.

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In the latter half of May, their manager calls Clarke on her way home from work to tell her that they want to book them as the opener for a slightly larger band on a tour stopping at some smaller festivals and venues across the U.S. This is huge news because that means their album is doing well, plus another band has heard of them and wants to play them at their own concerts. Touring also brings the opportunity to garner new fans and followers who hadn’t previously heard their music.

Clarke feels like she’s floating, and when she begins to walk down the stairs to her basement for the entire band’s weekly rehearsal session, she hears Bellamy’s guitar strumming and his lilting voice half singing and half humming along to the melody. The whole situation and atmosphere honestly just elevates her mood further.

She gets quiet and stands to listen at the top of the stairs to see if she can hear what Bellamy’s singing. The melody doesn’t sound familiar and Clarke’s afraid if she walks down and interrupts him she won’t hear any of it. He gets self-conscious on some more personal projects if others hear before he’s ready for them too. It’s completely understandable because she’s gotten like that a bit on previous songs as well.

Raven’s supposed to be coming over shortly, but Clarke doesn’t know if she’s already downstairs. She figures if Raven were already here though that Bellamy probably wouldn’t be playing something she’s never heard before to someone that wasn’t Clarke. He may be self-conscious, but she’s nearly always the first to hear potential songs.

Clarke can barely hear the cadence and lyrics he’s singing, but she thinks she can make out, _“You sing with a voice like I know you. And suddenly I start to see…”_ The words sound like nothing they’ve really written before. They’re soft and hopeful, almost but not quite like a full-fledged love song. They don’t write stuff like that very often, they write upbeat songs that are easy to jump around to. Bellamy clears his throat and strums a final chord before it seems that he’s done playing. Clarke takes that as her cue to make her entrance. Making a point of shutting the basement door with a bit of force so that Bellamy hears it in the basement, she skips down the stairs.

When she steps off the final step into the basement, she sees Raven sitting across from Bellamy, who still has his guitar perched in his lap. If Clarke had to pick an expression for the look on Bellamy’s face, she would probably say it was in the realm of embarrassment or mortification. Like he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Which, if Bellamy’s in fact showing Raven a new song before Clarke, is certainly something to possibly be embarrassed about.

“What are you guys doing down here? Bellamy looks like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar,” Clarke teases, setting her bag and sweater down on the office chair closest to the stairs.

Raven speaks first on behalf of Bellamy, which just adds to the strangeness of this whole thing. She can feel jealousy start to rear its ugly head and tries desperately not to read too much into it; Raven has a boyfriend after all.

“Bellamy was playing a bit of a new song that he’s working on. Very beginning bit.” Clarke doesn’t miss the way that Raven throws a side eye Bellamy’s way, or the way his face reddens in response.

Clarke takes the bait anyway. “A new song?” She ignores the weightless feeling she gets at the memory of the lyrics she heard just moments prior. She sits down on the couch next to Bellamy, watching his eyes follow her.

“One of the ones we were writing together?” Clarke asks, even though she knows for a fact that it wasn’t.

If possible, Bellamy’s face gets redder, but his response isn’t what Clarke expects. “Uh yeah. It was the one that we were playing with that could have those violins.” Clarke knows what one he’s talking about, and it’s for sure not what she heard from the top of the stairs.

She accepts his response for what it is though, and sighs. There must be a reason why he’s hiding it, and she figures he’ll tell her when he’s ready. When Clarke looks away from Bellamy, she sees Raven intently staring at the two of them with a smirk on her face with her eyebrows raised.

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.

Clarke waits to tell them about the offer to be the opener for another band until Emori joins them a little later. Once it’s out in the open and everyone has screamed an appropriate amount, their plan for the day goes out the window, and they talk about what songs they want to play throughout the gig.

For one of the early festivals they’re slated to play, they’re a bit of a late addition to the lineup, but they immediately get to promoting their appearance with promises of a good time. It helps that the festival’s social media retweets them to help spread the word as well. The summer is quickly turning into one of potentially career making experiences. They’ll get to ride around the country in a tour bus, which means that everyone gets to put in their notices at work come Monday. Clarke buzzes with the idea of not going back to the coffee shop.

Raven asks Bellamy if he thinks that song he was showing her will be ready in time for any of the shows. It’s so out of the blue that Emori throws Clarke a questioning look when Raven brings it up. Clarke shrugs just enough for her to see because at least the other girl also sees this as a weird development.

Clarke plays along though because she’s supposed to think Raven’s referring to that song with the violins. But that song with the violins is known strictly as “the violin song” because that’s all it is at this point-- a concept with some violins they don’t know how to play and some potential lyrics that show appreciation for all that their friends do for them.

The songs that tentatively make it to the set list are much of the ones they’ve been playing at the small local gigs for the past few months. They throw the song that got them started at the end to wrap it all up, a cover from another band they’ve started playing, and a potential placeholder for the violin song at the end to maybe be filled with something else. Clarke wants to laugh at the absurdity.

Zeke and Murphy come over towards the end of rehearsals where they get to break the news to them about the tour and the festivals. Zeke and Murphy end up staying for a shortened performance session where they run through the songs that they’re for sure going to perform in two months’ time.

\---_July 2017_\---

Before the tour is officially slated to start, they’re to play a festival close to home in Seattle in mid-July. The festival is huge by their standards, and seeing all these people walking around makes Clarks want to be sick, even though she knows that most of these people won’t actually be at their set in a few hours.

Bellamy slings an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as they walk through the grounds. The action startles Clarke out of her head, and she looks up to see a small smile on his face. “You ready for this afternoon?”

Clarke looks around and sees Raven and Emori ahead of them, Zeke and Murphy a foot behind them talking to each other. Clarke has unintentionally trailed behind them with Bellamy by extension. “There’s a lot of people here,” she answers instead.

“Yeah, but there won’t be where we are. Plus you don’t get stage fright like this, so what’s going on?” Bellamy’s got his big brother voice on that Clarke’s seen him get with Octavia sometimes, and it makes her feel young.

Clarke shrugs, trying to put her thoughts into words. “It’s just different. I’ll be fine though, don’t worry about me.” She smiles up at Bellamy to help drive her point home and sees him relent to her insistence.

Bellamy stops speaking, but he leaves his arm wrapped around her shoulders and Clarke can actually feel herself start to ease up. The atmosphere is calm with the sounds of heavy bass music a little ways away. She hopes that this, these people that have become close friends with her, as well as the performances, doesn’t end any time soon.

.

.

.

.

They’re almost all the way through their set later that afternoon when Bellamy speaks into the microphone to get everyone’s attention. They’ve amassed quite the crowd much to Clarke’s surprise, and they’ve produced quite fun energy. She’s forgotten nearly all her anxiety about playing their music, and it’s turned out to be the most fun she’s had in a long time.

“So we’ve got a few more songs for you guys before we’re done here. Before we play something else we’ve already released though, there’s a new song we wanted to play first. It’s a new song I’ve written, and it’s been a bit of a secret between me, our drummer Raven, and our bassist Emori. 

“This song is really personal and close to me, so I want to dedicate it to the only person on this stage who could inspire a song like this,” he pauses and Clarke feels her stomach drop and her eyes widen, “Clarke Griffin. This song’s called ‘Who Are You’.”

Bellamy walks over to where she’s standing behind their keyboard and playfully hip-checks her out from behind it. Dumbfounded, she steps away and is met with Emori’s smiling face and a stool for her to sit near the keyboard where she can watch this all unfold. He moves the keyboard just slightly perpendicular to the crowd so that he’s facing her more directly. All Clarke can think of when she sees Emori smiling is ‘Since when did Emori get let in on the secret?’

The song hasn’t even begun yet and Clarke feels her cheeks are about as red as they’re going to get. She feels like she’s on the verge of being sick. Distantly, the crowd is cheering and screaming but she doesn’t hear it. This feels about the most surreal that it’s gotten so far.

Clarke hears the piano start with a cadence that sounds familiar, and it takes a moment for her to remember that it’s the same chord progression that she heard Bellamy playing on his guitar two months ago. Except now the song is finished and she’s actually hearing it.

She pays attention so as to catch the words she first heard out of context and isn’t disappointed when she hears them in context.

_“_ _Who are you?_

_Forgive me, I'm hopeless with faces_

_But you sing with a voice like I know you_

_And suddenly I start to see_

_So perfect and complex”_

The fact that she’s inspired this song suddenly makes Clarke emotional. A tear escapes her eye and she quickly reaches up to catch it before it can ruin her makeup.

Bellamy’s watching her nearly the entire time, playing the notes like they’re second nature at this point. Clarke smiles reassuringly at him to let him know that these aren’t sad tears.

The verse continues despite her emotions. It really makes her wish that she had anything other than her shirt sleeves and hands to wipe her tears away.

_“Who are you?_

_'Cause just with a smile, I'm around you_

_And I'll try my best like I know you_

_Who are you?_

_Who are you to me?”_

The few beats in which Bellamy takes not singing introduce a subtle drum beat by Raven and a bit of guitar from Emori. Clarke didn’t even see Emori change instruments, let alone be in on the song to the extent of having a part to play on it.

Clarke figures that she’s going to have to have Bellamy play this again later tonight because she needs to hear this in private, away from prying eyes.

_“_ _Who are you?_

_Stood next to my friends, I should know you_

_But given my luck, I'll run without thinking_

_And fall without blinking an eye_

_And I'm forced to bear witness_

_Like a fool that's just waiting in line”_

The intimacy of the lyrics and the application they hold in relation to growing up in a small town feels the most personal. Their entire band and surrounding friends are made up of people that all knew each other but somehow never resulted in Clarke and Bellamy ever meeting.

The second half of the verse though fills Clarke up with more tears that threaten to break because that’s an admission of feelings, isn’t it? Could it be possible that Bellamy has feelings for her as well? All of the jealousy and longing she’s been tamping down for months and here are his feelings out on display in the second verse of a secret song?

As it becomes apparent that the song has reached a prolonged instrumental, Clarke takes the opportunity to look around the stage at Raven and Emori, who both look at her with big smiles on their faces. The sight of the crowd listening attentively fills her with pride and warmth.

When Bellamy begins to sing again, he’s nearly belting the lyrics rather than singing them in the quieter and slightly higher register that he had been singing the rest of the song. Emori even joins in on some of the backing vocals where Clarke guesses she’ll theoretically sing if Bellamy’s serious about keeping this as a song.

_“Who are you?_

_'Cause I can't quite think like I used to_

_And given my luck, I'll run without thinking_

_And fall without blinking_

_Who are you?_

_'Cause just with a smile, I'm around you_

_And I'll try my best like I know you_

_Who are you?_

_Who are you to me?”_

The line ends with finality and Bellamy looks at Clarke as he plays out the song followed by Raven and Emori. When the song finishes, Clarke sits still for a moment before the crowd erupts into cheers and applause. The noise of said crowd snaps her out of her reverie.

In the moment, Clarke has no idea what to think about everything that’s going on around her. There’s a screaming/cheering crowd to one side, smiling bandmates in the other direction, and Bellamy Blake standing almost directly in front of her. It’s a lot—especially with the memory of that _song _still at the forefront of her mind.

Through it all, Clarke can’t stop smiling through her tears. They are happy tears after all and she wants to make sure everyone knows. Standing up from her perch on the stool, Clarke gestures for Bellamy to walk around the piano and come over to where she’s standing. Meeting in the middle, Clarke throws her arms around his neck, standing on her tip toes to pull him in close.

Bellamy’s embrace is warm and comforting, in spite of the heat of the stage and its lights. She can’t help but tuck her face into his shoulder, into the junction between it and his neck. She takes advantage of the closeness to whisper her praise, and Clarke feels Bellamy’s arms tighten just noticeably around her torso.

The emotions running through Clarke’s brain as Bellamy pulls back to look at her make stops at nearly every major romantically inclined notion. The song certainly _sounded _romantic, but maybe he hadn’t meant it in that way? She doesn’t want to come outright and ask though; the implications of a situation like that where Bellamy hadn’t meant it in a romantic sense are ones Clarke doesn’t want to confront. So she stand here and smiles, watches as he reaches towards the mic to tell everyone that she liked the song. Clarke can’t help but laugh at him.

Taking a few moments to compose herself with a few sips of water and a tissue from a kind side stage roadie, Clarke gets herself back on track to finish their set. She plays their last two songs in a daze, amazed at the people in the front of the crowd singing along to their songs and the smiles that grace most peoples’ faces. It’s a best case scenario at this point.

When they close out their last song, the song that got them all started, Bellamy leans into the mic to announce their departure from the stage. “That’ll do it for us! We’ve been Midnight Madness, thank you, Seattle!”

Once they’re all backstage, Clarke can’t help but turn to Bellamy, who still has an arm slung around her shoulders, and swat at him both in embarrassment and astonishment. Bellamy makes a mock hurt face that causes Clarke to nearly roll her eyes. “You could have warned me!” Clarke admonishes as their friends begin to filter backstage.

Bellamy looks down at her and fails at keeping a soft smile off his face. “But then it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise, would it have?”

She does roll her eyes at that and turns to see that Murphy and Zeke have both already found Emori and Raven, the former with his arms wound around her waist from behind. Clarke decides that while both couples may be disgustingly cute and adorable, the fact that Raven and Emori both appeared to know the song and know the music to it, flusters Clarke further.

“_These _two could have at least thrown me a bone. They at least take my dislike of surprises seriously.”

“Oh no,” Emori chides, looking away from Murphy, “I wanted to see the shock and awe for myself when you heard that masterpiece for the first time.”

“Just admit you like the song,” Bellamy teases, now using Clarke’s head as a resting place for his elbow.

Being around Bellamy is so damn easy that she almost forgets sometimes that they aren’t already together when he casually drapes himself over her, and vice versa. That this song is what might finally give her the chance to be with him. Clarke knows that people do think they’re together—people have led with that before and it’s been nothing short of awkward when the inquiring person doesn’t believe them.

Right now she can see the way Murphy’s looking between the two of them, at Bellamy’s smile and his arm leaning atop Clarke’s head. She pointedly tries to ignore the look because if she doesn’t acknowledge it, maybe Emori won’t come to her later with a seed planted in her head from Murphy himself.

Before anyone can say anything else though, Harper and Monty, who have come in from town to catch their show and hang out before their tour starts, find them and pull everyone to the backstage area so that they can change and go out to enjoy the rest of the festival.

It doesn’t take long for Clarke’s mind to be pulled away from the thoughts and feelings of the song and their own performance. They all stay close for the most part, though Raven, Harper, and Emori do run further into the crowd for one band they watch, leaving Clarke, Bellamy, Zeke, Murphy, and Monty watching their spot under an old shade-providing tree.

“So I thought that was a pretty solid set you guys put on up there today.” Monty says, breaking the peaceful silence among the group.

Murphy lifts his head from where it’s buried in his phone, showing Zeke something on Reddit no doubt, and not so subtly catches Bellamy’s eye.

Clarke doesn’t immediately say anything, she’s trying to silently assess the nonverbal conversation that Murphy and Bellamy appear engrossed in. Bellamy speaks up though, attention appearing divided as he tries to concentrate on pulling apart blades of grass into even strips.

“Yeah I think so. Everyone sounded together, and there was a good audience rapport.” It’s nonchalant and he doesn’t mention the new song at all, which Clarke has to admit seems only a little odd due to how excited he was about it. It’s not like she didn’t like it.

“Yeah totally in sync and all that, but that new song you wrote? That was amazing.”

Blood rushes to Clarke’s face almost immediately, and if she had to bet money off of Murphy’s smirk alone, she’ll bet that the same’s happened to Bellamy. Monty doesn’t look any more put off by the question though, which means he A.) is very oblivious; B.) thinks something’s already happened between the two of them; or C.) just doesn’t care. Clarke almost hope it’s either A. or C. because nothing but awkward mumbled and stuttered apologies follow line B.’s conversation.

Nevertheless, Bellamy answers the praise, only clearing his throat a little before responding to Monty. “Thanks. I just mostly wrote the words and the piano bit. Raven and Emori really helped with the other bits of orchestration though.”

“And you really didn’t know anything about it, Clarke?”

Figuring that Monty probably means the concept as a whole song itself and not that thirty-second rough ‘rendition’ she eavesdropped on in her basement all those months ago, she shakes her head. “Nope, nothing. A little bit of a surprise though if I’m being honest.”

“Come on, don’t act like you don’t deserve a song written about you, princess.” Bellamy sounds adamant that she know this, that she believe she’s worthy of having a song written about her. It’s not that she even thinks that, but that it was _Bellamy_ who decided to write her the song. And then play it for the first time in front of a crowd of a few thousand.

Clarke has nothing to say to that, so she just tries to hide a smile and looks into the distance, pretending to search for Emori and Raven. Of course she can’t see them from her vantage point, but she didn’t think she’d be able to anyway.

Monty doesn’t say any more about the song, and neither does Bellamy. No one does. And that’s sadly the last she hears about it for the time being.

\---_Early September 2017_\---

Weirdly enough, nothing really comes from Bellamy’s unveiling of his song for Clarke at first. Well, ‘at first’ being about a whole month. Nothing about the way that they act around each other changes, but they don’t talk about the song at all. The song that Clarke could’ve sworn was a confession of _something_.

‘Who Are You’ also doesn’t make it onto the set list again for the time being because Clarke doesn’t know the piano part or the words in all actuality. She’s only heard the song played in full once after all because Bellamy. Won’t. Talk. About. It. Clarke feels like she’s going out of her skin.

She expresses her frustrations one night on the tour bus when Murphy and Bellamy are off in the back fixing a string on his guitar. Emori, Raven, and Clarke are sitting towards the front of the bus.

“So that song that Bellamy pretty much confessed his undying love to you in, has anything come of that?” Raven asks, leaning forward across the small table to keep her voice down. “He’s not been acting any less affectionate than normal, but I have noticed a severe lack in coupley activities that I _know_ both you and Bell are no stranger to from previous relationships. Hell, I’m sure Murphy could tell you about what to expect.”

Emori’s and Clarke’s eyes go comically wide for a couple of seconds and Raven can’t help but laugh. The laughter draws the attention of both Bellamy and Murphy whose heads turn to the front of the bus. Clarke shoos them away and they go back to their work.

“No but seriously,” Clarke whispers when Raven’s settled down and Emori has even let loose a few giggles. “Nothing’s happened and it’s actually killing me! He hasn’t so much as _mentioned _the song again after Monty congratulated him on it shortly after performing it. You said it’s definitely supposed to be romantic? I didn’t imagine that?” Clarke can’t help the hope that swells in her heart.

Raven levels her with a look that speaks volumes of pure sympathy. Like Clarke’s not understanding a simple concept. “You’re kidding me, right? How could you think that song was anything _but _a confession? He literally included the line ‘just with a smile I’m around you’. _Clarke_!”

She knew that in the moment it had sounded romantic and that it was, but when Bellamy didn’t say anything, she just assumed it must have all been in her head. That maybe she had just been reading too much into it and looking for something she wanted.

No words come to her mind quick enough to answer, she’s opening and closing her mouth and it’s hopeless. The noise of fingers being pulled quickly down the metal of guitar strings reminds her of where she is. “If it was a love confession then why didn’t he act on it? Why has he pretended nothing happened?”

It’s Raven who has no words to answer this time. Emori offers her advice instead. “John told me he’s afraid it’ll ruin your relationship. He’s afraid it might have been premature to play it at the festival and should’ve waited.”

It’s so pigheaded she wants to march to the back of the bus and knock Bellamy around on the off chance that his brain resets. “We live in real life, not a video game. You don’t get to just take back declarations like that in front of a thousand people, that’s not how life works!” Clarke’s whisper-yelling, and if it weren’t for the soft music that she’s just realized Emori’s turned on, the boys might definitely know they were talking about them.

Raven makes a hopeless and confused face like she doesn’t know what to tell Clarke. Boys are stupid, and it’s a tragedy that she’s attracted to them.

“I guess I should tell you then that Bellamy told me he wants to play the song again within the next few shows? I thought you should know this time, that way you’re prepared.”

Clarke can’t believe this. Well she can, but she can’t. “Is this his re-do? He’s giving it a second go?” She wants to be annoyed with Bellamy, and she is, but she can’t help the excitement that builds with the knowledge that she gets to hear the song again. _Her _song.

“How about this,” Emori breaks in before Raven can respond. “Let him play it again, and if he doesn’t talk to you about it then, yell at him to grow up. Does that sound better? Give him one more chance. You should’ve seen John trying to work up the courage to stop using his ‘cool guy’ bravado around me. It just takes time.”

Emori’s got a point, and Clarke sighs. “Alright, but if he doesn’t do anything within a day or two of singing that song again, I can’t promise fists won’t fly, okay?”

Both Emori and Raven look at each other and raise their eyebrows. “Alright then.”

She looks past Raven towards the back of the bus and sees Bellamy with a thumb in his mouth, biting at the nail in concentration as Murphy tightens the strings. He looks up and catches her eye, smiling warmly. Clarke can’t help but smile back, warmth spreading through her veins.

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A couple of days later at their concert in Nashville, Bellamy _finally _plays the song to the audience’s delight. Clarke knew the performance from the Seattle festival was making the rounds on social media because she’s seen someone tag her in it a few times in her activity feed by now. Some of the audience members even appear to know the lyrics this time around, which is better than Clarke’s doing. She has resolutely refused to relive the performance through the videos.

Even through her frustration with Bellamy and his emotional constipation, she still melts when she hears the song again, when he looks at her and sings those lines that made her cry the first time through. It’s almost perfect, and when it’s over, Clarke pulls him into a tight embrace like she did that first time, his own arms winding tight around her lower back. He even lifts her off the ground a few inches causing her to let loose a surprised squeal. She’s laughing when he sets her down on her feet, face inches from her own. It’s a lot.

No matter how many times they perform these songs for crowds who may or may not know who they are, Clarke finds herself never getting tired of it. She’s reinvigorated by each performance and wants almost desperately to get back in the studio to record more music. She wants to make this an actual viable career, and she wants Bellamy, Raven, and Emori along for the ride.

Bellamy buys her a drink later that same night when they’re at the bar watching the main act. A few people come up to compliment them on their performance and ask for pictures with them. A couple pointedly flirt with Bellamy, as well as with herself, and one person tries to buy her a drink. It’s a weird thing to get used to.

There are too many people around to have any kind of conversation that Clarke wants to have. Even though she knows Raven and Emori are off in the crowd and won’t disturb them, dancing to the music, they’re not completely without close company. Murphy is lounged on a bar stool on Bellamy’s opposite side with the tiny cocktail straw of some mixed drink stuck in his mouth, sipping diligently.

So instead of talking, Bellamy’s got his arm draped across Clarke’s shoulders, pulling her in close to him so that her head is resting right under his chin, and she’s got her arms wrapped around his waist. Clarke wishes she could live in this moment forever.

When the concert is over, Raven and Emori find the three of them back at the bar and they make their way backstage to collect their things for the night. They take lightning quick showers in the bathrooms provided by the venue and then it’s back on the bus. Everything’s been loaded back into the trailers and all that’s left is to make it back onto the correct vehicle. Bellamy only stops touching Clarke to lug his backpack across his shoulders and climb the stairs into the bus, but she already misses the contact.

Tonight was a late night, so people don’t stick around for an overly long period of time drinking on the bus. Emori and Raven burned off their excess energy dancing in the crowd, so they slough off early, Murphy following close behind to crawl into his own bunk above Emori’s own.

Clarke doesn’t go right to bed, electing instead to sit on the couch with her laptop to go through some emails and nightly photos for Instagram. Bellamy’s sat beside her on the couch, but it doesn’t take long before he’s nodding off himself, slumped in the seat so that his head falls against Clarke’s shoulder, a comforting weight as the bus hits a pothole on the road.

Her heart squeezes painfully looking at him with his face finally relaxed after a long day of performing, both physically and mentally. His eyes open blearily as the bus rounds an on-ramp.

“You can go to bed,” Clarke tells him fondly. “You don’t have to wait for me to be in the bunk below you to sleep.”

Bellamy just hums in affirmation but stays where he’s sat. “I’m fine, princess. Just continue with what you’re doing.”

Clarke just smiles to herself and shakes her head before going back to looking through the photos on her computer. There’s one that a fan’s tagged them in that’s actually quite nice during Bellamy’s swoon of ‘Who Are You’. _My song, _she thinks_. _Bellamy’s looking at Clarke with that she can only describe as heart eyes.

The photo makes her pause because she’s seen Bellamy look at her like that, hell she’s looked at him like that, but it didn’t occur to her that other people could see how plainly they cared for each other. And yeah, she’s caught Murphy and Emori’s knowing gazes between each other, and even the odd instance when Raven’s joined in, but it’s weird to know that strangers can see for themselves.

She’s staring at the actual picture for so long that she doesn’t even realize that Bellamy’s opened his eyes again and is looking at the picture as well and reading the caption. “‘These two looking at each other...if they don’t get a room themselves I’m going to have to get one for them.’” He laughs a little at the end, but Clarke doesn’t quite know if it’s because of the caption or because she jumps several inches at the abrupt sound of his voice.

“It’s a good picture of us.” Clarke shrugs and clicks out of the photo page.

Bellamy makes a noise of assent and grows quiet watching Clarke scroll through the various photos. She doesn’t see any more pictures that are as blatant at pointing out how close the two of them appear to be, and she doesn’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.

“Maybe we should get some sleep. We’re in Charlotte in the morning.”

He lifts his head from Clarke’s shoulder and she turns to look at him, realizing at the last minute how close their faces are for the second time that evening. She can’t help the quick flit of her eyes to his lips and back again, and she doesn’t think he misses the movement either.

“Clarke…about that song,” Bellamy murmurs, just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

Clarke swallows and nods minutely. “I still love it.”

A toothy smile splits Bellamy’s face and he lifts a hand to brush a lock of hair out of Clarke’s face. “God, I don’t know what to say that the song doesn’t say for itself.” He lowers his head for a moment, and Clarke figures it’s now or never.

“You could show me instead then.” It’s a cheeky answer, she knows, but Bellamy raises his head nonetheless, his eyes hopeful.

“Yeah?”

She nods and he reaches his hand back up and rests it at her jaw, his palm covering nearly her entire cheek. Bellamy leans in about halfway before Clarke leans the rest of the way, sealing her lips resolutely over his own in a kiss she’s been waiting _months_ for. A sigh escapes her lips as Bellamy redoubles his efforts, opening his mouth slightly, and Clarke is gone.

Leaning further into his space, she awkwardly shoves her computer off of her lap without letting it fall to the floor, and clutches onto one of the lapels of his jacket that he’s still got on from the show. Clarke distantly thinks he should take it off so as to keep it from smelling for as long as possible, but then Bellamy nips gently at her lips and she couldn’t care less about the damn thing.

It can’t be more than a minute before Bellamy’s pulling back though, leaning his forehead against her own, a small smile pulling at his lips. “I heard you were getting impatient, Princess,” he breathes.

Eyes still closed, Clarke can’t help but chuckle, turning her face a few inches so that it’s her temple resting against his forehead instead. “I thought a month was a bit long, sue me.”

Bellamy lets go of a chuckle of his own at her retort. He leans his head back a little and Clarke turns back to look at him with wide eyes. “I did mean every word in that song. I’d been working on it since April, you know. It’s ultimately why I broke up with Echo.”

The realization of how long it’s been since April, of how long it’s been since he hasn’t been with Echo, sends her worldview spinning a bit. She thought her ever present jealousy monster was bad, little did she know her feelings had been reciprocated for most of the time they’d known each other.

“Bell… I wish you would’ve told me. We could’ve been doing this for a hell of a lot longer.”

An actual laugh escapes Bellamy at her statement, and Clarke feels triumphant over the sound of it in their quiet surroundings. “I’ll remember that for next time.” They don’t do anything but stare at each other for a few more minutes before Bellamy sighs. “Can we talk more in the morning? I might actually pass out if I stay out here for much longer.”

Clarke nods, feeling overcome with exhaustion herself, and pulls back to stand up. Before she’s able to walk off to their separate bunks though, Bellamy pulls her back by the wrist. She goes willingly and meets his mouth gladly, one more sweet kiss that sends sparks up her spine and goosebumps across her skin before bed.

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The next morning, Raven stumbles out of her own bunk as Bellamy’s pouring a bowl of cereal for himself very carefully as the bus continues its drive down the highway. Murphy’s right behind her and falls onto the opposite side of the breakfast booth from where Clarke’s sitting, hair looking less than styled. To think that he goes from this to looking like Emori’s ‘indie rock god boyfriend’ that she’s seen him dubbed in the comments and on people’s posts come performance time is amazing.

“You guys were up late last night,” she says, sitting down next to Clarke on one side of the booth.

Clarke shrugs and swirls her coffee around in her cup before taking a sip. “I was looking through the photos from last night and then I went through Instagram to see what people from last night thought.”

Raven raises her eyebrows and looks over at Murphy disbelieving. A typical nonverbal conversation that her, Murphy, and Emori will always have between them. Her gaze eventually finds Bellamy. “What’s your excuse?”

Bellamy glances to Clarke before subtly shaking his head. Clarke’s willing to bet that Raven doesn’t miss it. “I fell asleep on the couch pretty soon after you, Murphy, and Emori went to bed. Clarke woke me up to go to my bunk when she called it a night.” The white lie confuses Clarke only minimally, because she gets that he probably wants to talk to her more about this before they tell anyone, which…same. It’s a lot to process this early in the morning. In reality, once they figure it out, these three, plus Zeke back home and Octavia off at college, will be the first to know.

Raven nods, but Clarke can tell she’s largely unconvinced about the specifics. Clarke will be hounded about what’s happened after her proposed ultimatum a few nights ago when Bellamy and Murphy leave the vicinity, so she needs to come up with something soon.

“Rough night yourself, Murphy?” Bellamy asks from his new position on the couch, smile evident in his voice.

Murphy smirks and runs a hand through his unbrushed hair. “As if anyone’s trying anything in those bunks. They’re like damn coffins.” Bellamy chokes on his coffee, and Murphy’s eyes shift back to Clarke. “I didn’t realize Midnight Madness was one to like a lot of people’s community photos.”

Clarke hadn’t realized that Murphy was one to look at the community activity feed, and Bellamy voices the same observation.

“Nah, it wasn’t me, but Emori does. I was looking over her shoulder this morning as she scrolled. Those bunks are _just _roomy enough to get the appropriate fill of _romantic contact_.” Clarke can’t help but roll her eyes.

A tired “_John_…” can be heard from the back of the bus where Emori’s bunk is. Murphy can’t keep his face that neutral, smile breaking through his poker face not long after. Clarke loves them as a whole as much as she loves them as separate individuals, and nothing demonstrates that fact better than when they’re all eating breakfast together and trying not to kill each other before they’ve all had their fill of caffeine.

“People like to know their photos are seen when they tag people. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Clarke finds herself explaining even though there’s nothing to justify. The picture of her and Bellamy staring at each other flashes through her mind again.

Murphy raises his eyebrows and nods as if it’s acceptable enough of an answer.

.

.

Most of the bus spends the remainder of the drive looking out the window at the passing trees and hills of the Appalachian mountains. They’re about to cross into North Carolina, having stopped at some point in the night to afford the bus driver some rest, and they don’t have long to go. They’ve never been this far east in the U.S., they’ve hardly been past the Mississippi River thus far into their lives and career.

They meet up with the other buses carrying everyone in the bus parking behind the venue. As soon as everyone’s parked and they’re allowed off the bus, Raven races off, taking a victory lap to stretch her legs, jumping on Emori’s back minutes after she steps off the bus. Emori yelps but holds her weight.

Clarke sees Raven whisper something in to the other girl’s ear and knows that she’s telling her about the events that went down at breakfast before she had roused herself. About the suspicious line of questioning that transpired around Bellamy and herself and how roundabout they answered questions. What happened last night won’t be a secret for long.

She catches Bellamy’s eyes briefly and he smiles and shakes his head at the two girls’ antics. It’s good to know he’s just as aware of everyone else as she’s been for months now.

A roadie distracts him shortly thereafter with something that must be important enough that Clarke can see his eyebrows furrow and motion for him to lead the way. Figuring she’s not really needed standing around, Clarke follows in their direction to see what’s so concerning to Bellamy.

The roadie and Bellamy aren’t too far in front of her, but it turns out they’re just far enough for the apparent surprise to be in the middle of unfolding by the time Clarke catches up. Clarke hears Bellamy’s confused “O?”, and she turns the corner to see none other than Octavia Blake taking a flying leap at Bellamy’s open arms.

It doesn’t take very long for Bellamy to realize what’s happening, and he wraps his arms tightly around his younger sister when he rights himself after accepting the full weight of her; she’s even got her legs wrapped around his waist. The two of them must be able to sense Clarke and the smile that breaks out on her face, because Octavia cranes her neck around and shouts at her to get over to them.

In a feat of true flexibility and pure Octavia, she unwinds the top part of her body from Bellamy’s and reaches out to Clarke when she’s close enough, though her bottom half is still firmly wrapped around her brother. It’s a firm and quick hug before she’s being pulled away by Bellamy so she can be set back on her own feet. Clarke laughs at Octavia’s mock offended face and pulls her into another hug, this time much more familiar and sister-like, like they’re coming back together for the first time in too long—which is true to an extent.

Going to school on the Eastern seaboard means that Bellamy hasn’t really seen Octavia since New Year’s, and she can only imagine how hard that must be considering how much of a team they are together. It was a bittersweet moment when Clarke had learned that Octavia had taken a summer job out near school. On one hand, Octavia was out and successfully living her life, and on the other hand, Bellamy was still more or less stuck in Washington, three-quarters of a country away.

Now though, Octavia’s telling him that she’s got a few days off, meaning that she’s coming to the show tonight and then staying the night with them since they have no show and no new city to be in come morning.

While Clarke’s thrilled for Bellamy that he gets to spend the next several hours with his sister, she can’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment that her and Bellamy likely won’t be able to continue their conversation that they had started the night prior.

An odd sort of silent conversation takes place in that moment; Bellamy glances over at Clarke as if he also senses that they won’t have their conversation, while Octavia glances slyly between the two of them as if having a battle of thoughts with herself. It occurs to Clarke that Octavia probably knows something is up between her and her brother, and she doesn’t know what Bellamy’s going to want to say if Octavia asks anything.

Of course she does though. “Did something happen between you two? I don’t remember you two having so many silent conversations.”

Not wanting to say anything and leave it to Bellamy to frame the narrative between him and his own sister, Clarke remains silent. She tries not to look at Bellamy, afraid of what she might find. Does he regret the start of whatever that kiss was last night on the bus? Will he brush it off like he began to on the bus this morning? Clarke honestly doesn’t want to find out this way if he does.

Instead he takes a breath and huffs out a laugh. “Maybe? We haven’t had the chance to talk about it yet, but I’ll let you know when we figure it out?” A giggle escapes Clarke without her permission, and Bellamy’s gaze shifts to her, a smile of his own gracing his features.

If this is how Bellamy acts about and around her when they haven’t even figured anything out yet, flustered and voice soft, then Clarke can’t help but think with a thrill of how he’ll act when they have an idea of what’s going on. A combination no doubt of how they interacted when they were friends and how little personal space they shared after their set and on the bus last night. God, Clarke just wants to _talk _to him already.

“_Oh _my _God!_ Fucking finally!” Bellamy’s gaze flashes back to Octavia at her exclamation and profanity, but she’s undeterred. “There’s been a bet going on between half the band and their boyfriends for _months _now, and I don’t even know who’s won now. When did this happen? I have to know where I stand.”

“You guys had a _bet?_” Bellamy asks, like he can’t believe what he’s hearing, which to be honest, neither can Clarke. “Since when?”

“Since you wrote a damn song about her back in April, Bell. Raven and Emori aren’t exactly excellent secret keepers, so as soon as they told me, the bets had to start. It was too perfect; you two couldn’t keep your heads up your asses forever.”

Clarke turns to Bellamy, mouth opened in shock. “Did _everyone _know about that song before me?”

“Apparently,” he comments, jaw clenching. God, Octavia should stop talking, Clarke thinks. “Look Octavia,” he tries again, “you’re not telling anyone until we’re ready, do you understand me?” His voice is stern, and this apparently causes Octavia to sober up.

“Yeah, of course, you have my word. I’m just happy for you two. Anyway, you wanna help me take my luggage up to the hotel across the street?”

Bellamy hesitates but nods and follows without any further ado, turning back to look at Clarke and mouthing a morose ‘_Later?’ _Of course Clarke nods, a smile on her face.

Her only entertainment gone for the time being, Clarke grabs her backpack off the bus and decides to hit up the Starbucks that’s next door to the hotel to work on some lyrics that have been bouncing around the inside of her head. They’re potentially lyrics to the long sought ‘Violin Song’, but thus far they’ve been unable to make it work. Perhaps she’ll help to change that today.

For the first forty-five minutes of being there, Clarke’s alone with her thoughts and her music that she’s listening to. There aren’t many people in the shop with her right now, which always helps with her stress level, so it makes perfect karmic sense when Emori and Raven saunter in with smiles on their faces.

“We found her!” Raven sing-songs, shrugging off her own backpack before sitting down in the booth across from Clarke. Emori slides in next to her so that they’re both facing Clarke, leaving her with the knowledge that she’s done for. It’s about to be Octavia part two if she knows anything.

“Alright Clarke,” Emori begins without any prompting, “what’s the damage?”

Clarke looks up from her notebook where she’s tentatively titled the violin song ‘My Friends’. While already slightly dedicated to their friends, it’s officially become an ode to their friends for everything they’ve done and when they’ve put up with the distance her and Bellamy inadvertently put between themselves and their friends. It means more than it had back in April and May. Now though, as the two girls interrupt her, Clarke sighs and puts her pen down.

“The damage with what? I’ve got half a page of lyrics written for a new song if that’s what you mean.” She knows what they’re talking about, but maybe if she pretends she’s so engrossed in her writing then they’ll leave it alone for the time being.

It doesn’t appear to work. Both Emori and Raven level her with a look, cluing her in to the fact that they’re not amused. “You know what we’re talking about. Spill, Griffin!” Raven playfully smacks at Clarke’s shoulder, but she rubs at it as if it actually hurt. Raven rolls her eyes anyway.

She still hasn’t even really had time to talk to Bellamy about it all. They would have sat down this afternoon before the show, but he’s officially been MIA all afternoon with Octavia. She can’t blame him really though, and she won’t hold it against him when he finally gets a minute free, but it still mildly sucks. Clarke realizes that they told Octavia already, but it _is_ because she outright asked after all.

And okay, Raven and Emori _do _have her cornered, and they _do _know how she’s felt about Bellamy for a while, so she sighs and spills everything from the night prior to two more people.

“Well I _was _looking at Instagram last night, Raven; that wasn’t a lie this morning. And Bellamy _did _fall asleep on the couch, he just happened to use my shoulder as a pillow. And then he woke up while I was looking at this really nice picture of the two of us—”

“Oh believe me, I saw it,” Emori butts in. She looks like she definitely agrees with Clarke’s assessment of the photo.

“What happened when he saw the photo?” Raven prompts.

Clarke rolls her eyes. “I don’t kiss and tell, but needless to say, fists will not be flying anymore.”

It seems like it takes a moment for Emori and Raven to catch on, but when they do, Raven shoots a victory fist up in the air and Emori practically yells out “finally!” Clarke can’t help but flinch at the show of dramatics from her friends, but she can’t imagine not having told them now.

“Don’t go running around and telling everyone yet though because I still have to have a real sit down with Bellamy. We were gonna do it today but Octavia surprised him at the last minute,” she says once they quiet down. Not for the first time today, she’s glad the coffee shop is mostly empty. They do get a few funny looks, but they’re kept to a minimum.

Neither one says anything about the supposed bet that’s apparently been going on, for which Clarke is grateful. She’ll leave that be for now.

.

.

.

.

Bellamy finds Clarke alone about forty-five minutes before they’re set to go on stage, and oh boy does she not need this right now. She’s sequestered herself for a reason, her mind’s been all over the place and trapped within new songs and complicated feelings all day; she needs to sort it all out so she doesn’t forget the lyrics to her own songs tonight. Presenting her with one of the things she’s trying not to think about is pretty counterproductive in Clarke’s opinion.

“Hey, can we talk for a sec? I know I’ve been busy all day with O, and we’re close to going on stage, but this has been killing me all day, Clarke.” Yep, she can relate.

The large comfy chair she’s situated herself in now feels like a trap, but she nods anyway and watches Bellamy come to sit on the coffee table in front of her. Clarke longed for a conversation earlier, but it’s late enough that she can live with it waiting a few hours more now. In fact, it would probably be better for her mental health too.

Clarke now finds herself nervous, as if he’s going to tell her to forget it ever happened despite how he acted earlier with Octavia. Part of her mind tells her that that’s ridiculous, but the devil on her shoulder tells her it could still happen. She lets silence reign, waiting for him to speak.

“Did Raven or Emori tell you why I didn’t say anything to you after the first time we played ‘Who Are You’?”

_Yes_, she thinks, but Clarke’s not about to miss an opportunity to hear it directly from him. Afterall, she’s only been waiting for a month. Instead she shakes her head twice and sees Bellamy take a deep breath.

“As it turns out, I think I may have jumped the gun and let you in on the secret before I was ready to face the music so to speak. You mean so much to me in more than just a creative and professional way, and to screw that up was unthinkable. Murphy told me to try again and see how it went a second time, so that’s why I played it again before saying anything.”

There are several things to unpack, but Clarke latches on to the bit about Murphy. “You went to Murphy for romance advice?” It’s not that she has a problem with it, it’s just that she didn’t picture Murphy as the type to give revelatory romantic advice.

For a moment, Bellamy looks put off as well that that’s the part of his statement that she latches onto. “He managed to convince Emori he was good enough to take a chance on. He’s got a few hidden talents up his sleeve.” Clarke can’t help but feel her face warm at the implication, and now is _not _the time for that.

“Never mind. Let me start over?” He smiles and nods. Thankful, Clarke shuts her eyes for a beat and takes a calming breath. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. People don’t write songs about other people with lyrics like that if they don’t mean anything by them. I was just so overwhelmed and hopeful that maybe you felt the same way, but then a _month passed _and you didn’t say anything. Nothing even changed between us. Guess I should’ve talked to Murphy, huh?” She finishes with a rueful quirk of her lips.

A surprised chuckle breaks past Bellamy’s lips. He reaches across the distance between them and toys with where her fingers are sat on the arm of the chair. Almost like an infant’s grasp reflex, Clarke turns her hand so she can latch onto Bellamy’s own.

“Can we call this ‘together’ now?” Bellamy murmurs just loud enough for her to hear.

The question makes her heart flutter and she pretends to think about the answer for all of about five seconds before she nods, trying and failing to hide a smile. “Only if you get your ass over here and kiss me first.”

The smile that spreads across Bellamy’s own face is blinding for the three seconds Clarke sees it before he leans over into her own space, the hand not holding hers coming to rest on her jaw. The kiss that follows isn’t wholly unlike the first one they shared, a bit chaste but no less goosebumps-inducing, and it doesn’t stay like that for too long, just like before.

Clarke pushes herself up from the back of the chair to push forward into Bellamy, her own hands wandering up to his shoulders and squeezing encouragingly when he deepens the kiss. She knows they don’t have the time right now to really get into it considering they’re quickly approaching their set, but Clarke doesn’t mind a few minutes of kissing before someone’s bound to come and hammer on the door.

The hammer does come, and it comes sooner rather than later accompanied by Murphy’s voice of all people, and Clarke can’t help but laugh into Bellamy’s mouth when she hears him tell them to break it up. Bellamy’s properly hovering over her by now, her own hands bracketing each side of his face. It’s soft and intimate and perfect.

Thinking of all people who could’ve come to knock on the door, Clarke is beginning to think she out to buy Murphy some flowers or a dinner date with Emori for helping out Bellamy and for probably egging Emori on to talk to Raven, and in turn her, about it. Because let’s be honest, without their friends, _none _of this would have happened.

“I’ve got some more of the Violin Song written. Except now it’s called ‘My Friends’. I thought it seemed appropriate given the circumstances.” Clarke thinks she falls in love with the way Bellamy’s eyes crinkle at the corners this close up—the way his freckles disappear into the tiny folds. She can only imagine what she looks like watching him; reverent probably.

“I think that sounds about right. Play it for me later tonight in our room? It’ll be _our _surprise this time.”

_Their surprise._ Clarke decides in that moment that she wants to spend the rest of her life with Bellamy Blake. She nods though, to give him an answer and to let him know he’s been heard.

Before pulling apart for good, Bellamy leans back into Clarke for a borderline desperate kiss, one which she’s only too willing to quickly return. Her mind is so focused on the press of his lips and the way he makes her feel, that she almost misses the reverent way he whispers against her lips.

“I want to spend eons with you, Clarke Griffin.”

She thinks, just maybe, she can live with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Is the ending perhaps the slightest bit cheesy? Mayhaps, but with the hype of the finale this past week, I couldn't help but include that last quote.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for coming on this journey with me!
> 
> If you've particularly liked anything specific or just want to tell me if you've enjoyed my writing in general, why don't you drop me a comment below? You can also find me on Tumblr [kolyarostovs](https://www.kolyarostovs.tumblr.com) if you want to observe me screaming in the tags of most things I reblog.


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